Narrating Nonhuman Suffering: Animal (Auto)biography and Interspecies Encounters in Ceridwen Dovey’s Only the Animals

Marta Hernández-González

doi:10.14198/raei.29848

Authors

Marta Hernández-González Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5078-3561

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/raei.29848

Keywords:

animal (auto)biography, eco-narrative, co-existence, violence, Ceridwen Dovey, Only the Animals

Abstract

As a response to the contemporary concern about the role humans play in the degradation of the planet, animal (auto)biographies have regained popularity as a tool to criticise our treatment of the more-than-human as well as to draw attention to the interconnectedness of humans and the environment. In this way, literature becomes a space in which to reconsider the place of nonhumans in the world and explore new understandings of existence. By focusing on narratives that portray nonhumans as subjects with emotions, agency and complex relationships with humans, this kind of texts challenge anthropocentric understandings of existence and invite discussion on ethical co-existence. This article analyses Ceridwen Dovey’s short story collection, Only the Animals (2014), as an example of animal (auto)biography that addresses situations of injustice and that reflects on interspecies encounters with the nonhuman at the centre of the narrative. By positioning animals at the centre of human narratives and human conflicts, the human capacity to inflict suffering upon the world is criticised, at the same time as it highlights that there exist moments of kinship and vulnerability that suggest that human and nonhuman lives are intertwined. Such challenge of anthropocentric boundaries encourages readers to think critically about ethical co-existence and care.

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